Meet the New Supers And Villain of ‘Incredibles 2’

All your favorite supers are back inIncredibles 2: Mr. Incredible, Elastigirl, Frozone, Violet, Dash, and, of course, Jack-Jack. But Pixar’s big superhero sequel also introduces a whole new group of superheroes into the mix. Get ready to meet ... the Wannabes.

At a recent press day at Pixar Animation Studios, writer/director Brad Bird and the filmmaking team behind Incredibles 2 introduced these new supers and revealed how they’ll fit into the anticipated sequel. In the film, which is set immediately after the events of The Incredibles, supers are still outlawed. But Mr. Incredible (Craig T. Nelson), Elastigirl (Holly Hunter), and Frozone (Samuel L. Jackson) are recruited by a pair of wealthy siblings, Winston and Evelyn Deavor (Bob Odenkirk and Catherine Keener), to help them sway public opinion and have the supers’ position in society restored.

Winston and Evelyn hire Elastigirl to help them in their quest, and along the way these “Wannabes” join the crusade to bring supers back. There are six new characters; from left to right they are Screech, He-Lectrix, Reflux, Brick, Krushauer, and Voyd. (No, that’s not a typo, it’s “Voyd” with a y.)

Pixar

Here’s a little more info on each of them, from the film’s press notes:

Screech sports big owl-like eyes and a head that rotates 360 degrees. He can fly, thanks to a pair of wings he made to complete his look, but his real power is a high-pitched screech that can break glass.

He-Lectrix can shoot lightning bolts from his fingertips. He’s high voltage so it’s best to steer clear.

Reflux is a senior who has the unsettling super power of heaving hot lava, which helps him break into some of the most secure locales.

Brick is super tough with mega muscles and a fearless spirit that showcases her strong name.

It’s mind over matter for Krushhauer who has the power of telekinesis. This guy can crush a car without even laying a hand on it.

Voyd is a young, overeager mega-fan of Elastigirl. Her super power is the ability to divert and manipulate objects around her by creating voids that allow the objects to appear and disappear. Sophia Bush lends her voice to Voyd.

Here’s a good shot of the wall of the Incredibles 2 art gallery at Pixar devoted to these “wannabes”:

Pixar

As for the villain of the film, the Incredibles 2 team was incredibly cagey about him. His name is “The Screenslaver,” and he pops up at the end of the new trailer:

He also appears hiding behind the movie’s logo on the poster:

Pixar

At the press day, Bird told me Incredibles 2 is, in part, about “being controlled by screens,” and the Screenslaver concept art we saw suggested he can use screens to hypnotize people and control their minds. But the press notes handed out to journalists are incredibly vague about exactly who he is, what he can do, and why he’s messing with the Incredibles. They don’t even mention him by name:

The film introduces a new villain with a brilliant and dangerous plot that threatens everything. ‘This villain is different,’ says producer John Walker. ‘Helen has her work cut out for her to stop a villain who can manipulate people from a distance. And if Helen fails, her mission to bring back supers fails. A lot is at stake.

Clearly, this Screenslaver’s identity is a big mystery in the film, and Pixar is looking to keep it a secret for as long as possible. But the idea of a villain who uses screens to control people as a means of commenting on the way modern society is completely obsessed with cell phones sounds like a clever one. I can’t wait to see how that factors into the rest of the film.

Incredibles 2 opens in theaters on June 15; we’ll have lots more from the Incredibles 2 press day in the weeks ahead. In the meantime, here’s a gallery of beautiful Incredibles 2 concept art, plus a step-by-step walkthrough of how that concept art gets transformed into a finished shot.